Commercial printing problem.

I'm having problem in printing the accurate colour.?

• I'm from Malaysia, and just start dealing with printing stuff recently. I'm facing with a big problem which everyone knows, but I just don't know how to solve this. I'm using Windows XP, and adobe photoshop to adjust the colour, then export the file to adobe illustrator for printing. But when I start printing using my printer, the colour comes out to be totally different from what it shown in the monitor. the setting is CMYK. I wanna ask what is actually the problem? Is it the monitor matter or the printer's? How can I solve this? If i use the Apple monitor to do the adjustment, will this solve the problem? I need the asnwer very urgently, thanks alot!!

• Answer:

  There are several possible causes, hopefully we can find the solution. Your printer may be out of a specific color ink. If this is the case then the color will be off the same way every print (ie: if your printing green and your out of blue, it will look yellow. You may be out of yellow if the green looks blue). If this is the case, you'll need to replace the empty color cartridge to get any reliable color to come out. If your printer is not low on ink, it can be a software or driver issue. Try opening the picture in a different viewing/editing program and printing it from that. This is not likely to be the problem, but the next step is annoying and it's best to make sure it's not Adobe Illustrator first. If it's not working yet, it's probably a driver issue. Un-install your printer (method depends on operating system, check the control panel) then download and install the latest drivers from the manufacturer. My wife had that issue with all her pictures coming out with a purple tone to them and removing and reinstalling the printer with new drivers fixed it right up.